Monday, February 4, 2013

Whispering In The Dark

Much of the material I've posted so far is not new. I've been posting on the internet on various forums, discussion boards, blog comments, and the like for years, refining my arguments and discarding the old ideas that I once held that couldn't stand up to proper scrutiny. Many of my blog posts are ones I've been refining for years in debates and discussions, slightly edited for the blog format.

I've also been banned from a lot of places. I don't post abusive content. I don't troll. I don't drag conversations off topic. What I do is talk openly about pedophilia and acknowledge the fact that I'm attracted to prepubescent girls.

Now, as a rule, I tend to avoid any messageboard where young girls in my age of attraction are allowed to post. I do this for my own legal protection, and to remove from the arsenal of my opponents the ability to accuse me of being on the board for the purpose of picking up kids. That doesn't actually stop them from using that tactic, mind you, but I do put in some effort to make that a non-issue regardless.

People have the right to set whatever rules they like in their own spaces. I can't deny them the right to throw me out any more than I can deny the KKK the right to ban civil rights activists from their forums. The owners of a space can censor and restrict freedom of speech for any or no reason.

This is not me acknowledging that they have some moral right to do so, mind you. That is only me acknowledging their practical ability to do so. The fact of the matter is that I actually value freedom of speech. The free marketplace of ideas is something I value so greatly that I very much will defend, to the death, the right of those who want me raped and murdered to spout their bigotry as loud as they please in the public forum of their choosing.

How could I not value the free marketplace of ideas when it is that very thing which has allowed me to grow and develop my moral and ethical philosophy to the extent that I've managed? If my ideas had never been subject to the brutal scrutiny of my detractors, I might never have abandoned faulty ones I once held, and I might never have seen the contradictions between some of my old ideas. If people had not been so free to try to publicly tear down my arguments, I never would have been pushed to build a case and defend them properly.

But those who hate me will no doubt be heartened by the fact that I'm getting tired. I can force myself into otherwise open messageboards which choose to censor my ideas, in the hope of a few days of argument and potential growth, but it's feeling less and less worth my time to invade these "public" spaces in the face of the draconian censorship efforts made to scrub their forum clean of any trace of my passing.

So I'm left with the question of what to do now. That's part of why this blog exists. I've been getting sick of my virtual posters being torn down before anyone but the censors had a chance to see them. At least if someone ever finds their way to this blog, it'll be here long enough for them to read and consider the arguments herein.

But what good is this blog without people willing to engage with me? What is the value of making arguments that I'll never be able to say have stood up to vigorous attempts to eviscerate?

Whenever I'm banned from someplace, the same platitude is always handed out. "There are plenty of other places on the internet for you to talk, so I don't have to be bothered by the implications of not letting you talk in mine."

In practice, what these people might as well have said is: "Freedom of speech is the freedom to whisper in the dark where no one can hear."

This blog has a strict no censorship policy. Adbots and generic spam will be cleaned out for the sake of facilitating actual conversation, and porn links will be removed to protect the blog legally, but I will never censor anyone's view on the subject at hand, whatever it may be, and however that view is articulated.

I want people who disagree with me here. I want intelligent opposition who can point out the faults and flaws in my arguments. I want overemotional idiots spouting profanities and death threats at me. I want to hear from those who agree with me on a principle, but think I've got the details wrong. And I want any other opinion, good or bad that you have.

3 comments:

100 years ago, homosexuality was condemned almost universally as one of the most vile and evil of practices. However, there was still a minority of people who believed in equality. Now, although there still exist the conservative bigots who are set like rocks in their moral beliefs, homosexuality is on the highway to acceptance in the West. I have no doubt that by the next generation it will be as accepted as women's rights are now.

I've always thought it's not a far stretch to make that pedophilia could be the next civil rights movement. It's condemned by society right now and categorized with crimes like rape and child molestation, but indeed so was homosexuality. And if liberalism continues to be the dominating Western ideology, I don't think true universal equality will be too far away.

It's certainly not. Your blog on radical social justice is very interesting and I try to share it with as many people as I can. I don't necessarily agree with all your points, but a lot of your stuff has the power to make people see issues in a different light. I think that's good, because a lot of these issues need just that.